1966: Motor Vehicle Safety Act

Forty two years ago today congress officially responded to Ralph Nader's book Unsafe at Any Speed when they signed the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act into law. Nader used the rear-engined, air cooled flat-6 Chevy Corvair as the epitome of unsafe motoring while calling out the government's negligence on safety issues. The National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act established safety standards and strict penalties for violations.